Alnylam Consolidates Intellectual Property for RNA Activation

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that it has consolidated the key intellectual property (IP) for RNA activation (RNAa), creating a dominant IP position in this new area of biology.

RNAa is an emerging biological discovery involving double-stranded RNAs that target promoter regions in chromosomal DNA resulting in transcriptional activation of genes. The transcriptional activation, or up-regulation, of genes results in an increase in mRNA and protein production.

Accordingly, this technology may have applications in a range of human disorders such as certain genetic diseases and cancer where the aberrant low expression of certain proteins is known to occur.

In order to consolidate IP in this field, Alnylam has completed exclusive license agreements with the leading academic institutions working in this area: the Corey lab at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern); the Li lab at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF); and the Gage lab at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (Salk).